Dozens Killed at Egypt Soccer Match

Riot police watch soccer fans clash after a match at a stadium in Port Said that killed at least 74 people and injured 248. Witnesses reported that police stood by during the violence.
Reuters

By

Matt Bradley

February 2, 2012

CAIRO—Clashes between soccer fans killed at least 74 people Wednesday night in the deadliest single incident since Egypt's revolution last year, and one of the worst sports-related tragedies in decades.

The violent outbreak also was seen as reflecting broader tensions in the country—pitting aggressive soccer fans known as "Ultras" against their nemesis, the security forces, who protesters say have continued the harsh crackdowns of the deposed Mubarak regime.

Politicians in Egypt's newly elected parliament quickly suggested police were at fault in letting the violence spin out of control.

On Wednesday, fans of Al Masry, the home team of the Mediterranean coastal city of Port Said, rushed the soccer field after their team's rare 3-1 victory against the top-ranked Al Ahly, a Cairo-based club.

ENLARGE

Team players of the Egyptian Al-Ahly soccer club run for safety during clashes following their match in Port Said.
Associated Press

Witnesses reported that an unusually light deployment of security officers stood by and watched as thousands descended on the soccer field armed with knives and sticks. Egypt's Ministry of Health said 248 people were injured.

Soccer fans rushed the field in an Egyptian port city setting off clashes and a stampede that left at least 73 people dead and 1,000 injured, Matt Bradley reports on the PM Hub. Photo: Reuters.

The Ministry of Interior said it had provided adequate security for the match but that its forces were overwhelmed by "intentional hostility" from the crowd. The ministry said a stampede caused most of the deaths.

Photos: Melee at Port Said Soccer Stadium

Flares were thrown inside the stadium during clashes between fans after the match. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Injured players and spectators waited for as long as 1.5 hours in locker rooms before emergency crews were able to enter the stadium, some witnesses said. Others said security personnel had locked the stadium's entrances, even as fans clamored to leave.

Although soccer violence has occurred in stadiums globally, Wednesday's incident underscored Egypt's persistent lack of security and a popular rage that have undermined the country's postrevolutionary transition.

The revolution and Wednesday's incident bookend the bloodiest year in Egyptians' recent memory. The Port Said riot came as the grievances of vast ranks of Egyptian youth have persisted amid unfulfilled promises of political and economic change.

The soccer riot marks the latest flare-up in a long-running vendetta between organized Egyptian soccer fans and security officials. Anti-regime activists say Egyptian police have hewed to a pattern of abusive and humiliating treatment that helped inspire last year's revolution, despite successive announcements of police reform.

Since last summer, soccer hooligans—known in Egypt and elsewhere as Ultras—have joined in sometime violent protests against the security forces.

Some politicians from Egypt's newly seated Parliament speculated that police may have stayed aside intentionally to teach a lesson to the Ultras.

Police allowed fans to enter the stadium with small arms and did little to prevent fans from clashing, said one lawmaker from Port Said in comments on Egyptian television.

At least 70 people were killed in riots following a soccer game in Egypt's Port Said, Wednesday, according to Egyptian state TV. Most died from head injuries or suffocation. Watch footage of the chaos as fans storm the field. Video: Nile TV, photo: Getty Images.

The Ministry of Interior said police had arrested 47 people. One policeman was among the dead. The government canceled all league games indefinitely.

Mahmoud Hussein, secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose political party won nearly 50% of the votes in the past election, called the violence a "massacre," placing responsibility on the interim ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Interior.

But in a statement, the Brotherhood also echoed language used by Egypt's military rulers to explain protests against their rule, blaming the violence on a coordinated plot to "destroy Egypt" and lumping the soccer hooligans with protesters who fought Brotherhood youth in front of Parliament on Tuesday.

The Port Said violence comes days after Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Egypt's de facto president, partially lifted Egypt's emergency law as a concession to protesters and human-rights activists. Field Marshal Tantawi said the law, which gives police broad powers of investigation and the right to arrest and detain suspects without charge, would only be applied in ill-defined instances of "thuggery."

However, the deaths are likely to strengthen calls for a return to the kind of draconian law-enforcement tactics that helped inspire last year's uprising.

Higher levels of crime, sectarian fighting and recurring protests have convinced many Egyptians that their security and life quality has worsened since President Hosni Mubarak's regime was ousted nearly one year ago during violent demonstrations.

Soccer Tragedies

Big death tolls over 30 years

47 killed on April 11, 2001, in Johannesburg, South Africa, in an overcrowded stadium

At least 78 killed on Oct. 16, 1996, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, during a stampede

96 killed on April 15, 1989, in Sheffield, England, when police open gates to alleviate crowding

At least 93 killed on March 12, 1988, in Katmandu, Nepal, during a spectator stampede

340 killed on Oct. 20, 1982, in Moscow

Associated Press

"People can get away with a lot more than they could under Mubarak," said Hisham Kassem, a newspaper publicist and political analyst who has been critical of the continuing protests calling for the ouster of Egypt's military leadership. "We are now witnessing anger being vented. Clearly there is much more of it in Egypt than any analyst saw at the time."

For many Egyptians who are used to low levels of violent crime, the absence of heavy handed, often cruel and humiliating police tactics has come at a high price. Street fighting during protests and escalated levels of crime have discouraged investors and tourists, further crippling Egypt's already weakening economy.

The fighting in Port Said follows a week of high-profile criminality that has already strengthened calls for a return to law and order. In the past three days, armed gunmen have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars in five brazen daytime bank robberies in Cairo suburbs.

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